How U.S. Education Has Become 'A Debt Sentence' [Infographic]

America's student loan crisis still isn't showing any signs of improvement and according to the National Association of Realtors, 45 million people are carrying student debt with a fifth of them owing $100,000 or more. That's having an impact on home ownership and the realtors also say that 83 percent of people aged 22 to 35 who haven't bought a house blame their student debt levels. The Northeast of the country is the worst affected according to CNBC with 75 percent of graduates in New Hampshire carrying outstanding debt with the amount owed on average $36,367. At 43 percent, Utah has the lowest rate of debt with graduates there owing just under $20,000 on average. A report from the American Association of University Women found that women hold nearly two-thirds of all U.S. student debt, primarily because more women go to college.

The following infographic shows how U.S. higher education has turned into a "debt sentence" for millions of American students with the amount owed continuing to snowball. Back in 2006, outstanding student loans stood at $480 billion and that has now ballooned to $1.53 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. The reasons behind the growing debt mountain are multiple and complex but are likely to include increases in the cost of tuition, less students completing their degrees as well as the impact from the recent financial crisis.

I am a Statista data journalist, covering technological, societal and media topics through visual representation. In fact, I love to write about all trending topics, illustrating patterns and trends in a quick, clear and meaningful way. Our work at Statista has been feature...